Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct. 24 / Trend E. Kosolapova/
Kazakhstan's Metallurgical Corporation Kazakhmys increased copper in concentrate production by five per cent in the first nine months of 2013, the company reported on Thursday.
"In the first nine months of 2013, the outputs of copper in concentrate from its own material increased by five per cent from the previous period to 236,500 tons. This increase reflected a higher ore extraction and grades," the company said.
Kazakhmys's copper cathode production increased to 214,900 tons in January-September 2013 compared to 213,100 tons in the same period of 2012.
The company increased ore extraction by six per cent to 29.570 million tons in the first nine months compared to the same period of 2012 This was driven by an increase in output from the Central Region with the Konyrat mine contributing an additional 2.036 million tons of ore.
Zinc in concentrate output reduced by 11 per cent in the reporting period to 99,600, as the period was impacted by a build-up of inventory.
Silver output increased from 9.004 million ounces in the first nine month of 2012 to 10.419 million ounces in the same period of 2013.
"Silver output increased significantly in the first nine months of 2013, mainly due to a reduction of work in progress and higher recovery rates during the first nine months of the year," the company said.
Gold production decreased from 89,900 ounces to 74,600 ounces in the reporting period.
"In the first nine months of 2013, the output of gold in mined ore was impacted by stripping work at the Abyz mine which restarted mining at the end of the third quarter of 2013. In addition, gold in ore output from the Artemyevsky mine was affected by equipment maintenance and lower grades," the company said.